April 13, 2014

Kitty Harri, Kitty Harri's Sculpture Garden

Life demanded that Kitty Harri should live in many places in the world, supported herself in a variety of jobs, wrote novels (under the name Kitty Sewell) that have been translated into many languages, to ultimately find her destiny in making sculptures and creating an art environment.

sculpture in Portland stone entitled "the family at rest"

Life and works
Born in Sweden (in 1951) and enjoying a carefree childhood at a farm, at age thirteen Kitty Harri came to live with her parents in the spanish Canary Islands. She had to learn not only Spanish, but also German because she went to school at a German institute.

At age 18 Kitty followed her parents to Canada, where she lived in Toronto and Vancouver, studied law, married, had two children, naturalised as a Canadian, divorced, got a licence to be a Notary Public and finally went to live with her two children in a remote town in the Canadian sub-Arctic.

The arctic setting, far away from civilization, would provide the inspiration for her first novel Ice Trap.
Kitty met John, a doctor from England. They married and moved to the United Kingdom, where they settled in Wales. Kitty changed profession, re-training as a psychotherapist, working with the National Health Service.
After twelve years as a therapist, it was once more time for a change. Kitty did a degree in applied sculpture and a part-time master's degree in creative writing.

She began making sculptures and had several exhibitions, but then her book Ice Trap was published, became an international best-seller, and opened a new exciting future as a novelist.

Another divorce followed and Kitty has now come full circle and lives in Spain on two acres of mountain paradise in the Costa Tropical region in the province of Granada.

Creating an art environment

Over the last ten years, Kitty has worked steadily on her sculptures and placed them on her land. At the same time she took interest in horticulture and planted many exotic trees on her land which has amazing views over the neighbouring mountain ranges and the sea to the south.

the magic urn

Recently she has slowed down her whirlwind ten-year writing career, and begun to devote herself almost exclusively to sculpting and transforming her land into an exotic garden and art environment.

The garden currently (2014) has some thirty creations, such as stone and wood carvings, bronzes, wall and other mosaics, metal sculptures and murals.

Kitty so far has worked mainly in stone and wood, but she has recently begun to work with other types of material, such as metal, glass and concrete.

She has just started to invite other sculptors from anywhere in the world to come and stay for two or three weeks as "artist in residence", to make a piece of work for her sculpture garden and also teach her new techniques, exchange ideas and create inspiration all around.

Sculptors interested in this idea can bring their family for a holiday and stay free in a lovely little house in the villlage of Olivar, 4 km from the sculpture garden.

recent picture (2014) of Kitty in her new capacity

Kitty's Sculpture Garden currently (2014) has some sixty sculptures, forty made by Kitty, twenty by guest sculptors. The site can be visited by appointment by any sized group, preferably a minimum of four people.